I'll make you the furnace and the cauldron, so you can refine Yin and Yang and prove the Great

The silence lasted for a full ten breaths.

For ten breaths, not a single person spoke or moved in the square. The wind swept dust across the bluestone ground, and even the slightest rustling of clothing could be heard. Thousands of eyes were fixed on the figure in the center of the square, and even their breaths were unconsciously held.

Ten breaths later, the Ninth Elder was the first to regain his senses. He stepped forward, his Void Refinement aura overwhelming like a mountain, looking down at the figure standing with his hands behind his back in the arena, speaking each word slowly and deliberately, his voice as cold as iron:

"The Grand Elder of the Heavenly Demon Sect testified in person, and there are witnesses present; the evidence is irrefutable."

"What else do you have to say for yourself?!"

All the thousands of eyes in the room were once again fixed on Li Hanshan. Among those eyes were surprise, fear, and lurking malice, as well as a few venomous gazes hidden deep within the crowd.

Ye Shuanghua's heart leaped into her throat. Her fingers tightened slightly around the Jinghong Sword as she rapidly calculated in her mind: how to exploit the word "rumor," how to transform "accusation" into "slander," even if it only delayed things temporarily—

Li Hanshan spoke.

He took a step forward, stepping out from behind Ye Shuanghua. Facing the Ninth Elder's imposing aura and the gazes of the entire audience, he smiled and answered loudly:

"That's right."

"I did it all."

I won't make excuses.

Four words, not heavy, yet like four heavy hammers, striking each person's heart one by one.

Ye Shuanghua turned around abruptly, staring at him in astonishment: "Li Hanshan, you—"

The Ninth Elder was also stunned.

He had prepared a whole host of rebuttals, ten ways to deal with the other party's sophistry, and even a gesture to grab him the moment he opened his mouth—but he never expected that the other party wouldn't utter a single word in defense and would simply admit it. It was like a punch that had been fully charged for a long time hitting empty air; he froze there, his expression a complex mix of emotions.

"Ha ha ha ha--"

After a brief moment of astonishment, the Ninth Elder threw his head back and laughed, his laughter filled with unbridled joy and savagery. He laughed so hard that he bent over backward, his beard and hair shaking wildly, as if trying to completely cover up his momentary loss of composure.

"Good! What a fine 'no arguing'!"

"Did everyone hear that? He admitted it himself!"

He abruptly turned to look at Ye Shuanghua, a cold glint of pleasure flashing in his eyes: "Nephew Ye, you just said there was no evidence. Now, with witnesses and testimonies all present, what do you have to say?!"

Ye Shuanghua pursed her lips.

What could she say?

She turned her head and glared fiercely at Li Hanshan, her eyes conveying a meaning that couldn't be clearer—how dare you admit it so easily?!

Li Hanshan gave her a reassuring look.

Then, he looked around the room and suddenly spoke again, his voice calm and unhurried:

"However, there's one thing I've never understood."

"Could any senior brother teach me?"

"Who said I'm a traitor?"

The laughter stopped abruptly.

The Ninth Elder narrowed his eyes, looking at him as if he were a madman: "You colluded with the Immortal Alliance, destroyed the Heavenly Demon Sect, severed the lineage of the Demonic Path, and allowed the Immortal Alliance army to garrison the Demon Realm—if you're not a traitor, what are you?"

"Ha ha ha ha--"

This time it was Li Hanshan's turn to laugh.

He laughed heartily, so hard he almost fell over, leaving the disciples in the square looking at each other, bewildered. The laughter was out of place in the tense atmosphere, yet it inexplicably made many people relax their tense shoulders.

"Is the Heavenly Demon Sect your family's property?"

The laughter stopped abruptly. He stared straight at the Ninth Elder and asked, word by word:

"Or perhaps—you are an elder of the Heavenly Demon Sect?"

The Ninth Elder's face suddenly turned red.

"you--"

"Since joining the Joyful Union Sect, I have cultivated its methods, abided by its rules, received its monthly stipends, and been recorded in its merit book." Li Hanshan's voice suddenly rose, booming like a bell, echoing throughout the entire hall. "When have I ever entered the Heavenly Demon Sect's gates? When have I ever kowtowed to the Heavenly Demon Sect? When have I ever received a single grain of rice or a single pill from them?!"

"I destroyed the Heavenly Demon Sect."

"May I ask, Ninth Elder—whom have I betrayed? And which sect have I betrayed?!"

The Ninth Elder's mouth was open, his throat making gurgling sounds, but he couldn't utter a single word.

In the arena, Ye Shuanghua's eyes suddenly lit up.

From the group of disciples behind her, the first low voice of agreement rang out: "...That seems to make sense."

"Yeah, the Heavenly Demon Sect isn't our sect..."

"What does his destruction of the Heavenly Demon Sect have to do with our Joyful Union Sect...?"

The Ninth Elder whirled around, glaring fiercely in the direction the voice came from, and the murmurs subsided. He turned back, his expression fierce but his voice weak: "Soliciting lies! You led the Immortal Alliance army into the Central Continent, annihilated our fellow cultivators, shifted the blame eastward, and placed my Joyful Union Sect in peril—this is your crime!"

"A dangerous place?"

Li Hanshan suddenly smiled.

He stopped looking at the Ninth Elder, turned around to face the dense crowd of over a thousand disciples, and asked loudly:

Fellow disciples.

I have a question for you.

"Have there been few conflicts between my Joyful Union Sect and the Heavenly Demon Sect over the years?"

The crowd fell silent.

"How many of our fellow disciples and senior sisters have died at the hands of the Heavenly Demon Sect?"

In the crowd, some people began to breathe heavily.

"Our sect lost the Azure Netherworld Secret Realm three hundred years ago, who has it now? Three spirit stone mines have been seized, seven spirit fields have been confiscated, and the two thousand three hundred disciples who perished in the last great war between the two sects—whose revenge order was issued for their compensation?"

"Aren't these enough?!"

The crowd stirred.

"And then what about the reverse?" Li Hanshan's voice was calm and unhurried, each sentence striking the hearts of everyone present. "Think about it again—if one day our Hehuan Sect becomes weak, injured, and our sect's grand formation develops a flaw..."

"Will the Heavenly Demon Sect let us go?"

"Could it be like when the various sects joined forces to destroy the Yinming Sect, besieging the city and uprooting them completely?!"

Dead silence.

A deathly silence so profound you could hear a pin drop.

The veteran disciples turned pale—how many years had it been since the Yinming Sect was destroyed? That lesson was etched into the bones of every demonic cultivator. The three demonic sects, allies in name, were wolves in disguise. What did the Tianmo Sect do during the years when the Yinming Sect was weakened, and what did the Hehuan Sect do? Which of the elders present didn't have a clear understanding of the situation?

"The three sects of the demonic path are of one mind and share the same roots—" Li Hanshan's voice carried a hint of sarcasm, "That might fool outsiders."

"There's no need for that in front of our own people."

"With the destruction of the Heavenly Demon Sect, what did our Joyful Union Sect lose? We gained a little more pressure from the Immortal Alliance. But what did we gain? — An entire territory in the north! Seventeen secret realms and nine spirit stone veins at the junction of the three sects! The mountain that had been pressing down on us for tens of thousands of years has collapsed!"

"The Ninth Elder won't settle this score—"

"Fellow disciples, can't you even do math?!"

The crowd erupted in cheers.

"Yes...we can get the Azure Netherworld back!"

"And the sacred fields of Luofeng Slope! Those were cultivated by my ancestor!"

"If that's the case... it was good that the Heavenly Demon Sect was destroyed!"

"What traitor? He clearly rendered a great service to our sect!"

The murmurs grew louder and louder, from initial whispers to a cacophony of voices that eventually became a surging torrent. Among the crowd, several elderly deacons with white hair even had tears welling up in their cloudy eyes—the blood debts of their sect had been etched in their minds for decades.

"You—you—"

The Ninth Elder was so angry that he trembled all over. He pointed at Li Hanshan, his lips quivering, but he couldn't even form a complete sentence.

"Enough!!!"

A loud shout, like a thunderclap, rang out.

The Grand Elder of the Heavenly Demon Sect walked out step by step.

His blood-red eyes were fixed on Li Hanshan, the remaining demonic energy around him surged wildly, and black blood seeped out of the piercing wound in his chest with each heavy breath.

"What a silver tongue."

"What a clever way to settle accounts."

"My Heavenly Demon Sect has tens of thousands of disciples and thousands of years of tradition, but in your mouth, it's reduced to a business transaction, a page in an account book—"

His voice trembled so badly it was almost incoherent, and tears streamed down his face:

"A silver tongue!!"

"Today, I want neither reason nor accounts—"

"I only want your life!!"

The moment he finished speaking, he moved.

A blood-red giant hand covered with layers of demonic runes suddenly emerged from his mangled body, carrying the deadly power of a Void Refinement cultivator burning his very essence, tearing through the air and grabbing down towards Li Hanshan's head!